Although the “Civil Society Dialogue Between the EU and Türkiye II”, supported within the scope of the 2007 financial programming period and implemented between 2010-2012, was a continuation of CSD I, three different grant components were the main focus in this period.
- Agriculture and Fisheries
- Culture and Arts
- Micro Grant Component
In the second phase, in parallel with the Commission Communiqué published in 2005, it was decided to focus on chapter titles, in line with the acquis, instead of the target group within the scope of financial aid programming. In other words, within the scope of the Civil Society Dialogue II Programme, implemented between 2010 and 2012, negotiation topics in the EU accession process were highlighted in the grant announcement for the first time.
In parallel with the 12th Chapter titled “Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary”, which was opened in 2010, “Agriculture and Fisheries”, one of the prominent issues in Türkiye-EU relations, was determined as one of the grant components. The European Agenda for Culture, published by the Commission in 2007, defined culture and arts as an excellent tool for improving dialogue, understanding and cooperation between civil societies. For this reason, “Culture and Arts”, which has an important place in EU policies, was determined as another grant component. Nearly 5 million euros in grant support was provided to 41 partnership projects under the “Culture and Arts” and “Agriculture and Fisheries” components.
Civil Society Dialogue II Culture and Arts projects engaged on a local level, reached thousands of people, and supported the promotion of Türkiye in the EU. With the power of arts, civil society dialogue was established between the EU and Türkiye.
Within the scope of the Civil Society Dialogue II Agriculture and Fisheries Grant Programme, farmers were given trainings on agricultural practices in Türkiye and the EU, best practices were visited, their awareness of sustainable agriculture and food safety was increased, and activities on the importance of geographical indications took place.
The third grant component was designed at a basic level to enable local CSOs to benefit from the EU funding system and improve their capacity in project implementation. With the “Micro Grant Component”, small-scale projects of small and local CSOs throughout Türkiye were supported and the necessary administrative expenses were covered to enable them to develop dialogues and establish professional connections with CSOs from EU member and candidate countries. Within the scope of the Micro Grant Component, a total of nearly 300 thousand euros was transferred to 54 projects.
In the second phase, 95 projects were supported with a total of 5.1 million euros within the scope of these three grant components, and Civil Society Dialogue II was the programme with the highest participation in the activities held in the EU among the Civil Society Dialogue programmes. A total of 11,090 people attended 84 events held in the EU countries. More than 50 thousand people were reached through more than 300 events, the benefits of Türkiye’s EU membership for both communities were shared, activities were carried out to eliminate the lack of information about the EU and its policies, and institutions were enabled to get to know each other and increase their cooperation.
The CSD II compendium can be accessed here.